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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 27, 1901
Indianapolis, Indiana – Mother Jones Speaks at Mine Workers’ Convention
From The Indianapolis Journal of January 26, 1901:
“Mother” Jones Heard
[U. M. W. of A. Convention, January 25th]
At the opening of the afternoon session Henry J. Skifington [Skeffington], of the Boot and Shoe Makers’ Union, addressed the convention and urged the delegates to buy none but union made shoes. Following his address, “Mother” Jones spoke. The work of Mrs. Jones among the miners is known to every miner in the country and her appearance was the signal for loud and prolonged applause. She addressed the delegates as “fellow-toilers.” She said the miners had wisely chosen the month of January for holding their convention, as it is the intermediate month between the closing of the year and the opening of spring. It was appropriate, she said, to use this opportunity to look behind and to the front.
The review of experiences of the past should be applied to preparations for the future, and the work of the miners should not be entirely for the present, but foundation should be laid for coming generations. Her pointed and witty expressions caused many outbursts of laughter and her ability to appeal to the deeper feelings was equally as effective with the delegates. When “Mother” Jones wished to say something she said it and spared none, but even members of the organization to whom she said: “if the shoe fits you must wear it.” Mrs. Jones is a Socialist and an ardent admirer of Eugene V. Debs, and she could not refrain from paying a tribute to both.
PATRICK DOLAN’S REMARKS.
At the close of her speech Patrick Dolan, of Pennsylvania, sought the floor to take objections to what Mrs. Jones had said about Debs. He said while he had the highest respect for “Mother” Jones, he did not think Debs was the only man who ever did anything for labor. So slow was he in making his point that many delegates arose to a point of order and tried to have him seated, but President Mitchell was lenient and gave him further time to express himself. The convention became noisy in an attempt to force him to his seat, but it was some time before it could be accomplished……
By vote an invitation was extended to Eugene V. Debs to address the miners while in session here, and it was later announced he will speak Monday afternoon.
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[Photograph, emphasis and paragraph break added.]
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SOURCES
Quote John Mitchell, UMWC PM Session, Jan 25, 1901
The Speeches and Writings of Mother Jones
-ed by Edward M Steel
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988
(page 4, search: “we all love to call Mother”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=vI-xAAAAIAAJ
The Indianapolis Journal
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Jan 26, 1901
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1901-01-26/ed-1/seq-8/
IMAGE
Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/167226270/
See also:
Jan 26, 1901-Indianapolis News, Mother Jones Speaks at UMW Convention Jan 25 PM, Debs Invited
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68654319/jan-26-1901-indianapolis-news-mother/
Note: Debs did not speak at the Convention.
See Indianapolis Journal of Tuesday Jan 29, 1901, page 8
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1901-01-29/ed-1/seq-8/
Yesterday afternoon Eugene V. Debs was to have addressed the convention, but a telegram was received announcing that he was unavoidably detained.
Note: re spelling for Henry J. Skeffington of Boot and Shoe Workers,
See: The Union Boot and Shoe Worker Vol 3, 1902
(search: skeffington)
https://books.google.com/books?id=aCVJAQAAMAAJ
Note: per Steel, page 3, (see link above), this was Mother’s first speech at a UMWA Convention. Steel further states:
For the past year she had been on the payroll of the organization…and she had proved to be so effective in her work with strikers during the past year that Mitchell reappointed her, this time with the official title of International Organizer, which the board had denied her on her first employment.
Steel offers no source for this assertion, but records of 1902 UMWA Convention show she was paid $1,577.87 for salary and expenses during 1901.
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=O2HyAAAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA70
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Miners Life – Kilshannig